Planetary with 16" GSO - what Powermate/Barlow?

[FrankRyanJr]

 

Sorry if this is the wrong location for this post, it's the most suitable I could find. 

I want to try some planetary imaging with my 16" GSO (I'm currently building an EQ mount for this) and while I have experience imaging the planets with an ETX125 (5") using a 2x barlow and a Phillips SPC900 - I'm going to get a better camera for a start (possibly a ZWO or at minimum an Imaging Source).
But my question is, as the scope is a 2" natively, should I use a 2" Powermate?
(I think I'm going to go with PM over a Barlow due to the visual improvement I saw through a friend's).

[Cosmic Geoff]

That depends on the camera - you can probably mount the camera as a 1.25", 2", or threaded format, and I imagine a 1.25"powermate would be cheaper.   But then you would need the 1.25" to 2" adapter.  But if you have an ADC (dispersion corrector) in the train, that would probably be 1.25".

[FrankRyanJr]

I've ordered the ZWO ASI462MC & a ADC (My friend had this device on his refractor a few nights ago and while Jupiter was quite low, the ADC did wonders for pulling the image together, at least visually).

I'm thinking about getting the 2" 2X Powermate (because unlike the 1.25" 2.5X the 2" 2X doesn't reduce magnification with distance away from the back end)

Do you think this optical train would work? :

2" 2X PM > 2"-1.25" adapter > ADC > ZWO462

 

[neil phillips]

On 30/06/2021 at 05:59, FrankRyanJr said:

I've ordered the ZWO ASI462MC & a ADC (My friend had this device on his refractor a few nights ago and while Jupiter was quite low, the ADC did wonders for pulling the image together, at least visually).

I'm thinking about getting the 2" 2X Powermate (because unlike the 1.25" 2.5X the 2" 2X doesn't reduce magnification with distance away from the back end)

Do you think this optical train would work? :

2" 2X PM > 2"-1.25" adapter > ADC > ZWO462

 

Hi Frank not used this train myself. But can not see why it wouldnt work

[SnakeyJ]

With the small diagonal on a planetory camera and 1.25" ADC, 1.25" barlow would be a good fit.   I had very good experience with the relatively cheap Baader Q barlow which could be adapted to fit directly on adc or with extension tubes.    With barlow, adc and camera the main issue is to take any slop out of the focuser and image train.

[CraigT82]

It would work but the 2" PM is a heavy beast, why not keep the weight hanging off the focuser to a minimum amd use the 1.25" version instead?

An alternative is to use a barlow which has a removable lens cell which weighs next to nothing and can be placed right on the nose of the ADC (you can use 1.25" nosepiece extensions to increase the power if needed).

[FrankRyanJr]

Right! After much flaffing about. I settled on (for now) a 2X 1.25" TeleVue Barlow. 

So I think this is how I'll need to set it up...

2" - 1.25" adapter > ADC > TeleVue 2X barlow > ZWO462

Do ye reckon this'll work?